Roelant Oltmans has improved India, says Prabhjot Singh

Prabhjot Singh

Top Indian hockey player Prabhjot Singh has said that High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans has improved the standards of Indian hockey enabling the team to play a more attacking brand and feels that the team can achieve good results under the Dutchman’s watch at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, reports Zee News.

“It was Spaniard Jose Brasa who made us play mix hockey and also worked on last minute lethargy of the team which often conceded goals and also taught us to fight back,” said Prabhjot.

“Now we have Roelant Oltmans who is a high performance coach and has emphasized on attacking which has always been the strong point of Indian Hockey.”

“We have also improved on the grey areas like penalty corners. We still have time for 2016 Olympics and under him we can hope for better performance. The recent results at Sultan of Johor Cup and Asia Cup show that Indian Hockey is on the rise,” said Prabhjot, who has 218 caps for India.

Prabhjot also hoped that the dispute between Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) would be resolved soon.

“The dispute should be resolved as early as possible because it was the players who were suffering. The FIH which has granted affiliation to Hockey India had objected to WSH organized by IHF and many of Indians players had to bow out of it under pressure,” he said.

“The Likes of me, Deepak Thakur, Rajpal Singh and few others were not included in selection camps because we had participated in WSH. The issue should be resolved quickly for the sake of Indian Hockey,” said Prabhjot, who has received a call-up to the senior side for the first time since 2010.

Hockey India and IHF have been embroiled in a tussle over the last few years claiming to be the rightful authority for hockey in India.